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How Government Officials Are Using Twitter for Hurricane Sandy

When Hurricane Irene roared up the East Coast in August 2011, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey delivered a strongly worded post on his Twitter account, @GovChrisChristie, telling people to “get the hell off the beach.” It worked. People left.

With Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Christie used Twitter and YouTube again, as did governors, mayors and emergency management officials from North Carolina to Massachusetts, cementing Twitter’s role as an emergency broadcasting service. In the aftermath of this storm, as we report, Twitter and other social media tools are also proving vital to helping officials deliver important and timely updates.

More than 20 million tweets were sent about the storm between Saturday and Thursday, said Rachael Horwitz, a spokeswoman for Twitter. And that is probably a conservative estimate, she noted, because it reflects only those Twitter posts that included the terms “sandy,” “hurricane,” “#sandy” and “#hurricane.”

At 9 p.m. Monday, as floodwaters poured into New York City’s low-lying areas and an explosion rocked a Con Edison substation, the number of Twitter users in the city who loaded their Twitter timeline from a mobile device peaked, more than doubling the number from the previous two days, Ms. Horwitz said.

Perhaps one reason is that top government officials and agencies had been delivering regular warnings and updates about the storm since late last week. They used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and even Pinterest to get the word out before and after the storm..

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, whose @NYGovCuomo is managed by a team of close aides, led by Liisa O’Neill, has been delivering hundreds of rapid-fire updates since late last week, becoming a must-follow for anyone looking for information about the recovery efforts. It is on this account that Twitter users learned when tunnels were closed, bridges opened, commuter rails were shutting down and then this post on Thursday that was welcome news, especially to Long Island commuters.

Governor Cuomo’s office, along with those of several other governors, and Mayor Bloomberg routinely upload video of storm briefings onto their channels on YouTube, allowing people who may have missed updates on television or don’t have access to a television or cable because of widespread power failures across the region to watch it online. A look at Governor Cuomo’s update on Thursday.

In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s @GovMalloyOffice account has also been regularly publishing updates on everything from road openings to power failure statistics. A sample of the posts and photos shared in recent days.

As of a few moments ago, 475k ppl are without power, down from 600k last night

On Maryland’s @GovernorOMalley account, Governor Martin O’Malley shared photos that showed how the storm damage stretched from one end of the state to the other. In recent days, he posted photos from his tour of areas that included shots of the destroyed Ocean City pier and snow-covered roads in Garrett County.

At the boardwalk with the Mayor of Ocean City assessing the damage. #MDSandy //t.co/h5XLfC2P

While touring Chincoteague Island, Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia answered a question from his Facebook page about whether the famed ponies and horses survived. He was able to report good news on his Facebook page and then post this photo on Twitter.

Dawn Zimmer, the mayor of Hoboken, used her Twitter account to respond to frightened residents trapped in their homes by rising floodwaters. She was trapped herself, on the second floor of City Hall. Finally, she got help and tweeted it out.

Just advised that national guard has arrived in Hoboken. More to come.

In this update on Thursday, Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania reminded people on his Twitter account, @GovernorCorbett, that the emergency was not over in the state, where hundreds of thousands of utility customers, primarily in eastern Pennsylvania, were still without power. Crews were battling to remove hundreds of downed lines and branches.

#Hurricanesandy update: as of 8 am there are 527,125 power outages statewide and crews are working hard to restore… //t.co/dzHHuwAd

Most of the official Twitter accounts for governors and top elected officials are managed by a team within the communications office. But not the Twitter account for Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, who recently invited people who were without power to his house.

There is someone at my house now (Eric). I’ve got space u can relax in, charge devices & even a working DVD player. Come by @my_serenelove

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The Lede is a blog that remixes national and international news stories -- adding information gleaned from the Web or gathered through original reporting -- to supplement articles in The New York Times and draw readers in to the global conversation about the news taking place online.

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